Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Today’s content
Housing
1News: Jacinda Ardern says public bears some responsibility for housing crisis after failed taxation attempts
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern partly blames New Zealand public for housing crisis, Chlöe Swarbrick reacts with scathing emoji
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): If we can’t change the supply or demand for housing, some of us may need to cosy up
Peter Dunne: Housing could blow away the government’s inflated Parliamentary majority
RNZ: IRD cracks down on residential property investors shirking bright line
Ashley Church (One Roof): Why did the house price experts mess up so badly on 2020?
No Right Turn: Blaming anyone but themselves
David Farrar: Ardern says we’re to blame for housing crisis!
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Let them rent cake??? Jacinda is blaming US for the housing crisis???
RNZ: ASB survey: Steep house prices turning people off
Jenny Ling (Herald): Time to do something about our housing deprivation
Jenny Ling (Herald): Our Hidden Homeless: Eric Monk finally has a place to call home
Jenny Ling (Herald): Our Hidden Homeless: Northland’s elderly living in Third World conditions
Stuff’s apology for coverage of Māori issues
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): To apologise for your country’s history, is to admit you do not understand it
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: Over three centuries we’ve failed to represent Māori fairly
Katarina Williams and Mandy Te (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: We inflamed race relations in Aotearoa
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Stuff apologising for racism against Māori ‘a very positive move’
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: ‘Good on ’em’: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reacts to Stuff’s apology to Māori
Skara Bohny (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: Pākehā framing of news
Phil Taylor (Guardian): New Zealand media giant Stuff apologises for ‘racist’ past reporting
Te Ao Māori News: Stuff apologises to Māori for 160 years of racism
Michelle Duff (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: Designer and artist Johnson Witehira on his historic apology design
TVNZ: Stuff’s ‘startling admission’ of racism will lead to wider conversation of race in media, says 1 NEWS Māori affairs reporter
RNZ: Stuff apologises for its coverage of Māori issues
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): Our Truth,Tā Mātou Pono: The mandate to ‘watch over interests of settlers’
Oranga Tamariki
Melanie Reid (Newsroom): Carers: Oranga Tamariki adds to the trauma
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Davis demands formal review of Oranga Tamariki uplift
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis demands review of child uplifts case after Oranga Tamariki fails to justify it
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): New Oranga Tamariki Footage and censorship a shock – Jacinda must step in now
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Davis demands formal review of Oranga Tamariki uplift
Pay leave extension
Zane Small and Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Government introduces legislation to double sick leave – but it comes with a catch
No Right Turn: Labour finally does the right thing
Victoria Young (BusinessDesk): What business wants from new sick leave plan (paywalled)
Unilever four-day work week
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Unilever to trial four-day work week
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Global giant Unilever to trial four-day working week in NZ
RNZ: Unilever to trial 4-day working week with NZ-based staff
Immigrant workers
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Living wage for RSE workers unlikely to be matched for Kiwis, industry says
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Living wage guarantee for RSE workers in border exemption
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Report highlights concern over cheap imported labour effect on economy
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): It’s a crime the government will let so much produce rot
New privacy law
Henry Burrell (BusinessDesk): What every organisation needs to know about the new Privacy Act
Gehan Gunasekara (Newsroom): Privacy Act 2020: A welcome step in a digital world
Jeremy Jones (Herald): New Privacy Act – the good, the bad and the ugly (paywalled)
Welfare reform
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Christmas in the City Mission line: Damning poverty report highlights welfare failings
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern disagrees with Child Poverty Action Group’s accusation of ‘unjustifiably slow’ welfare reform
Herald: ‘Children cannot wait’: Government slammed for ‘unjustifiably slow’ welfare reform
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Work to reform welfare system ‘unjustifiably slow’ – Child Poverty Action Group
Climate change
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern defends decision to declare a climate change emergency in Parliament
TVNZ: Jacinda Ardern says declaring climate emergency sends ‘strong message’ of Govt’s priorities
Steven Cowan: Climate change: incremental reforms are not nearly enough
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Climate emergency – policy commitment or rhetorical flourish? (paywalled)
Pete McKenzie (Newsroom): What a real climate emergency declaration might look like
Parliament and election
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Youthquake? Young people voted in far greater numbers at 2020 election but still lag behind older generations
Audrey Young (Herald): How National leader Judith Collins plans to use Question Time (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Speaker Trevor Mallard asked to weigh-in on Anne-Marie Brady complaints
David Farrar: Portfolios
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Why the Electoral Commission paid social media influencers $160,000 to promote voting
Government
Malcolm McKinnon (Stuff): Transformation was never on Savage’s agenda, any more than it’s on Ardern’s
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Nanaia Mahuta steps up to the world stage
Whakaari/White Island disaster prosecutions
Leah Tebbutt and Kelly Makiha (Herald): Whakaari/White Island eruption charges: Govt agency GNS Science defiant over prosecution
Amanda Cropp and Matt Shand (Stuff): GNS Science, White Island Tours included in 13 WorkSafe prosecutions over Whakaari/White Island eruption
Matt Burrows (Newshub): 13 parties WorkSafe charged over Whakaari/White Island disaster ‘didn’t meet obligations’ to health and safety – CEO
TVNZ: Four parties waive right to name suppression after being charged over Whakaari tragedy
RNZ: Whakaari investigation: WorkSafe charges 10 organisations, three directors
Amanda Cropp and Matt Shand (Stuff): WorkSafe prosecutes 13 over Whakaari/White Island eruption, including GNS Science
Royal Commission into terrorist attack on Christchurch mosques
Amelia Wade (Herald): ‘Institutionally racist’: New Zealand’s security agencies were Islamophobic and ignored right-wing threat, says Muslim group
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Federation of Islamic Associations releases submission to Royal Commission into terror attack
Paul Buchanan: Ready to be let down
CTV building collapse
Juliet Speedy (Newshub): CTV building collapse: Victims’ families make public plea to Government over police decision not to prosecute
Martin Van Beynen (Stuff): CTV families seek legal challenge over police decision not to lay charges
RNZ: IPCA rejects CTV families’ complaint about police failings
Logan Church (Herald): CTV families slam police, call for government review
Health
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): ‘Grim’ report released on state of NZ kids’ health
Scott Palmer (Newsroom): Cure Kids’ State of Child Health report finds dismal outcomes in areas of deprivation
Emile Donovan (Newsroom): Fighting diabetes without weapons
RNZ: Pay equity: District Health Board admin workers offered pay deal
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): District Health Board administration, clerical workers reach pay equity milestone
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Advocate calls for former Health Minister David Clark to be held responsible for epilepsy drug switch deaths
Dianna Vezich (Newshub): Endometriosis labelled ‘health crisis’ in New Zealand with hospitals declining GP referrals
Economy and work
Zac Fleming (Newshub): Revealed: Dozens of companies make profits after taking COVID-19 wage subsidy
Andrea Fox (Herald): Alliance Group wage subsidy critic widens court action, eyes Beehive (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (Stuff): Raising the minimum wage will create a ‘bigger mess’
John Anthony (Stuff): ‘Employees will feel this’: New top tax rate expected to have flow-on effect
Tim Hazledine (BusinessDesk): Time to talk about the UBI (paywalled)
Sharon Brettkelly (Stuff): Sneaky, shady, shifty – supermarkets are under scrutiny
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): NZ’s welcomed a lot of nice people, few trailblazers through immigration: NZIER
Ernie Newman (Stuff): Supermarkets: The outrageously high prices we pay for groceries can be fixed
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Road congestion charge set to be passed on as higher food prices for households
Marta Steeman (Stuff): Businesses should plan for uncertainty even though Covid-19 impact muted so far, consultants
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): More lockdowns could open door for business interruption insurance claims, lawyer says (paywalled)
Covid
Grant Duncan (The Conversation): What Australia can learn from New Zealand: a new perspective on that tricky trans-Tasman relationship
Derek Cheng (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus: NZ ‘dragging the chain’ on transtasman bubble
Stuff: Covid-19: Can governments mandate a vaccination? Balancing public health with human rights – and what the law says
Jamie Morton (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus: Dramatic data reveals lockdown crushed flu – down 99.9% (paywalled)
Local government
Nikki Preston (Herald): Waikato Regional Council awards almost $1m in contracts without going to tender
Herald: Review of Christchurch Foundation hampered by slow release of information
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Election spending investigation clears Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate, Councillor Angela O’Leary
Christina Persico (Stuff): Māori relationship manager needed at district council, says iwi leader
Other
Jason Walls (Stuff): The Government paid private consultants up to $325 an hour to provide Ihumātao advice (paywalled)
Andrew Chen and Kristiann Allen (Spinoff): NZ Police are piloting a swarm of new, hi-tech tools. We deserve to know more about them
Richard Harman: Minister bids for bipartisan end to Auckland jams
RNZ: Australia plans WTO action against China over tariffs: Jacinda Ardern not taking sides yet
No Right Turn: The wrong conclusion
Crystal Wu (Newshub): Animal rights activists want ‘big changes’ to research after piglets gassed to death in Kiwi experiments
Chris Wilson and Lauren Currid (Newsroom): School attacks and white nationalists
Edward Gay (Stuff): Paedophiles should not be honoured, Royal Commission of abuse inquiry told
Stacey Morrison (E-Tangata): Tiana Epati — raising the bar for future generations
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Will calls for another cannabis referendum be taken seriously?
Newstalk ZB: Should the cannabis referendum have focused on decriminalisation?
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland toll road proposal to be revealed, but critics say poor will suffer
